With the Socceroos locked in to meet New Zealand for a two-game series that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first men’s match between the two nations in September, we look back at our long history on this international stage.
While matches between the Socceroos and the All Whites have been rare in recent years, a historic rivalry exists between the pair.
The teams first met on June 17, 1922 in Dunedin, with New Zealand winning 3-1 in front of 8000 people.
Their most recent match was on June 5, 2011, with Australia defeating the All Whites 3-0 at Adelaide Oval, where 21,281 fans were in attendance.
Overall, the teams have met 63 times in men’s football, with the Socceroos winning 39 to New Zealand’s 13, with 11 games finishing in draws - only two of them goalless.
The record margin of victory in the fixture was Australia's 10–0 win in 1936, while New Zealand's biggest victory was 4–1 in 1923.
Our first meeting
The history of the Australian Men's National Football team dates all the way back to 1922, when a tour invitation from New Zealand Football was accepted by the Commonwealth Football Association.
Players from NSW and Queensland were chosen for the tour which consisted of fourteen games, including three Tests. The first of those took place in Dunedin on 17 June, in which New Zealand were victorious 3-1, with William Maunder scoring the only goal for Australia.
Australia played in a light-blue strip with maroon hoops on the socks, incorporating the colours of both NSW and Queensland. They wore those colours until 1924 when Green and Gold were incorporated into the kit.
Our first home game and victory over New Zealand
The Socceroos played their first home game against New Zealand at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on June 9, 1923.
While 7000 people watched on as the two teams battled it out on Australian soil for the first time, Australia also recorded their first victory over their new rivals.
Courtesy of goals from Percy Lennard and William Maunder, Australia defeated the Kiwis 2-1 in the friendly match at the ground now known as the 'GABBA'.
Despite the victory, New Zealand went on to win the remaining two matches in the tour.
Our first World Cup Qualifying meeting
The first round of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Qualifying series was played in Australia and New Zealand.
The Socceroos were part of the Asia and Oceania zone, which was afforded one qualifying spot of the fourteen that were on offer (West Germany automatically qualified as hosts, Brazil as defending champions).
The competing teams in Zone B-Group 2 were Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Iraq. Each team played each other twice, with the winner of the Group to play the winner of Zone B-Group 1.
The opening match of the series was played in Auckland against New Zealand. After Australia's friendly victory against New Zealand in Djakarta five months earlier, many supporters were expecting big things from Australia in the first match but a 1-1 draw was played out.
The Kiwis led up to the 85th minute and Australia offered little until Ernie Campbell, a 67th-minute substitute, bobbed up to head home a miraculous equaliser.
The Socceroos went on the qualify for the 1974 World Cup where they played West Germany, nearby East Germany, and South American team Chile in a difficult Group 1.
The first Trans-Tasman Cup
The Trans-Tasman Cup was a competition played between Australia and New Zealand. Six editions were played between 1983 and 1995 after the OFC Nations Cup was discontinued.
The first Trans-Tasman Cup match was played in 1983 and won by New Zealand. The first leg, played in Auckland was a 2-1 victory for the Kiwis, followed by a 2-0 victory in the return leg in Melbourne to seal a 4-1 aggregate win.
The first Trans-Tasman Cup win
The tournament was won four times by Australia and twice by New Zealand with the Socceroos' first triumph coming in 1986.
The first leg in Auckland produced a 1-1 draw with now Socceroos coach Graham Arnold scoring the all-important goal.
In the return leg in Melbourne, Arnold was again on the scoresheet alongside Andrew Zinni to hand Australia a 2-1 victory on the night and a 3-2 aggregate victory overall.
While New Zealand won the following Trans-Tasman Cup, Australia won the next three cups before the tournament was discontinued in 1995.
Our first Olympics Qualification meeting
Australia played New Zealand in Olympic qualification for the first time in 1988.
The match at the Sydney Football Stadium produced an exciting encounter as the Socceroos recorded a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Jim Patikas, Frank Farina and Oscar Crino.
Australia went on to cement a place at the Olympic Games Finals in Seoul in September 1988 after going on an unbeaten run through qualifying.
Our first and only Optus World Series meeting
The 1997 Optus World Series was a four-nation series designed to assess the locally based players against Norway, New Zealand and South Korea. Similar matches were later organised for Australians playing in European Leagues with a view to assembling the best possible squad for the 1998 World Cup qualifiers.
The first and only meeting in the series between Australia and New Zealand produced a 1-0 win for the Socceroos.
Played in Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, Matthew Bingley scored the only goal for the Socceroos as they went on to win the mini tournament with subsequent victories over South Korea and Norway.
Our first OFC Nations Cup meeting
The OFC Nations Cup began in 1973 as the "Oceania Cup" but Australia were not involved.
In 1998, Australia entered the tournament and faced Fiji and Cook Islands in the group stage. The Socceroos went on to top the group and beat Tahitia in the semi-finals before losing 1-0 to New Zealand in the final in Brisbane.
While Australia managed to reach the final of this event, they reserved their worst performance to last and New Zealand gained entry to the Confederation Cup finals the following year in Mexico with victory.
Our last meeting
Australia last faced New Zealand in a friendly match at the Adelaide Oval in 2011.
Two goals from Josh Kennedy and an injury-time converted penalty by James Troisi gave the Socceroos a win in their first match at the Adelaide Oval since 1958.
The All Whites have not had a win against the Socceroos since 2004.
